Remember in middle school when you and your classmates had to do a presentation on photosynthesis? (Or Zimbabwe, or the lymphatic system, or whatever?)

Your friends came over with markers and magazines and glue and you went to town on that poster board.

Since it was at your house you had to be the one to take it to school. Gulping, you rolled it up and put just the right size rubber band around it. Not too tight or you’d crease it!

You guarded that poster board with your life from the bus to the classroom. Finally, sweat pouring down your face, you unrolled the poster to discover … everything’s intact. Phew!

Then you fainted from anxiety and your friends gave the presentation over your lifeless body.

When you came to you thought to yourself, There’s got to be a better way.

There is. Ironically, while your teacher would have chastised you for folding up your poster because of how unprofessional that would look, actual professionals fold presentation materials all the time.

They just get a little professional help to do it right.

LARGE-SCALE FOLDS

The Half Fold, one simple horizontal fold along a vertical crease, might have been a nice, simple choice for your younger self’s poster board. Easier to carry on the bus. Stands up on a table.

The Gate Fold is another good large presentation style, two folds meeting in the middle to create one large viewing panel with two wings. (This one’s great for architects – it even has the word “gate” in it.)

But what if your inner middle-schooler wants to get more creative?

SMALL-SCALE FOLDS

The Tri-Fold is two folds in the same direction creating three panels of equal size. Good for brochures because the viewer can easily turn them over and see content on each side of the panel.

The Z Fold might be even better for handheld materials; it draws more attention to the two-sidednessby simply reversing one of the two folds.

Roll Folds or Accordion Folds are another example of horizontal folds (along vertical creases) that createmultiple panels.

ANY SIZE FOLDS

Even large-scale (poster board size!) materials can become pocket-friendly by combining your Accordion Fold with a vertical Half Fold (along a horizontal crease) to create a Map Fold.

Voilà! Yes, armed with this knowledge you can perform the magic of the Incredible ShrinkingPresentation. But done by hand, the more folds you make the worse your printed materials will look.

Better leave it to the pros at the Farmhouse. We heart print services!